College Sports Council Accuses ESPN of Propaganda in Title IX Broadcast

WASHINGTON, DC, June 4. AS part of a series of programs examining the debate over Title IX, ESPN will present a one-hour segment on June 23 that has in fact
been funded and produced by the Women's Sports Foundation ­ a highly partisan activist group that fosters athletics lawsuits.

The program, "On Equal Ground," purports to be an objective analysis of a Title IX lawsuit, Cohen v. Brown. The Women¹s Sports Foundation, however, was an amicus party (friend of the court) to that suit and devotes much of its resources to advancing additional lawsuits against schools across the country.

"On its 'Women in Sports' homepage, ESPN also has a link to a lawsuit checklist from WSF where students are advised to scrutinize their schools as potential litigation targets and are then offered help finding attorneys.

"We felt that we had no option but to blow the whistle on this," said Eric Pearson, Chairman of the College Sports Council. "ESPN and the Women's Sports
Foundation are engaging in journalistic point-shaving."

"This is like a network running a documentary on President Bush which was produced by the Democratic Party", said Leo Kocher, University of Chicago Head Wrestling Coach.

"Why would a network with the production resources of ESPN allow an activist group with a political agenda to pay for and assume control of how the network presents a highly contested matter of public policy?" said Jim McCarthy, spokesman for the College Sports Council.

The College Sports Council, a group comprised of collegiate coaches associations from track, swimming, wrestling, and gymnastics, is calling on ESPN to cancel the program.